Faded
by Juliet316 2000
Summary: A plane crash changes everything.
1. Pro Chap One: A Year's Difference

Faded  
Prologue  
  
Shane McMahon walked into the McMahon Family mansion, watching his brother in law Hunter Hearst Helmsley preparing to leave.  
"Hey Hunter, what's up?" Shane asked.  
"Hey Shane," Hunter replied. "I was just about to head out and pick up Stephanie."  
"Steph's plane doesn't arrive for another six hours?" Shane said confused.  
"Yeah, well, I was hoping to get the world's biggest "I'm sorry" bouquet," Hunter said sheepishly.  
"Good Luck," Shane said with a small smirk. Earlier in the month his sister Stephanie caught Hunter in a compromising position with fellow female wrestler Trish Startus. Even though Shane and his father Vince (thanks to the Raw cameras being there) saw that it was nothing. Steph was visibly upset and requested the overseas trip to England with the Undertaker to do promotional work for the Federation.  
"Thanks man," said Hunter, starting to head out the door.  
Suddenly there was a scream from the den. Shane and Hunter instantly recognized it as coming from Shane's mother Linda.  
"Mom what's wrong?" Shane shouted as he and Hunter ran into the den. They saw Vince McMahon comforting a visibly shaken and upset Linda. Vince also looked like the world had toppled over him.  
"Mom...Dad...what's wrong?" Shane asked, afraid of the answer the questions might yield.  
The newscaster on TV gave him the horrifying answer:  
And to recap our top story, Flight 592 has gone down off the coast of England. The crash occurred shortly after takeoff and was a nonstop trip from London to New York City. There are reports of as many as 196 passengers and crew on board. Again......  
Is...Isn't that Stephanie's flight?" Shane asked.  
"Oh God, no," Hunter breathed. No, not Steph, please no, Hunter thought.  
We're getting flim footage from a BBC helicoptor in London. There appears to be wreakage strewn all along the own the ocean, including some on the coast. It doesn't appear a high probability that anybody could've survived this crash.  
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Linda cried out in anguish. "My baby, not my baby." She leaned into her husband for support.  
"It'll be all right. Shane, can you call Marrissa and let her know what's happening?"Vince asked of his son.  
"Yeah Dad," Shane said quietly. His wife Marrissa was also the publisist for the World Wrestling Federation. "Steph," Shane wisphered watching the horrific scene of the crash in TV.  
"Hunter I need you to call Mick and let him know the show is cancelled, and then see if they can find Kane and let him know the news if he doesn't know already," Vince said, referring to the television taping going on that night at MSG as well as informing the Undertaker's younger brother Kane of the tragedy.  
"You got it," said Hunter told him with a lump in his throat.   
He made the call to Mick Foley and as soon as he was sure he was alone, broke down and cried the tears of a man who'd lost everything in one swift, cruel moment in time.  
  
  
At the arena  
  
"Guys the show's canceled," Mick Foley said walking into one of the lockerrooms that housed some of the wrestlers for that night's taping.  
"Why Mick?" Chyna asked amid the chorus of groans and moans.  
"Stephanie and Taker's plane went down this afternoon, they don't think there are any survivors." Mick answered quietly.  
The gasps in the room were audible against the silence that had overtaken the room.  
"Oh my god, Mick is there anything we can do?" Chyna asked.  
"Just spread the word that the show's been canceled and give the reason. Has anybody seen Kane?"  
The lockerroom shook their heads. Nobody envied Mick the task of telling Kane about the Undertaker's likely death. If Kane didn't know already.  
"Thanks anyway guys" the commissioner of the World Wrestling Federation walked out of the lockerroom, silently praying that the Dead Man could pull off another miraculous stunt and bring himself and Stephanie back alive, as futile as the hope of it might be thanks to the TV footage. In his aimless walking he bumped into somebody from behind.  
"Hey jabroni watch were you're going!" practically shouted a recognizable voice.  
"Sorry Rock, I was preoccupied," Mick said, apologizing to the Great One. "Listen have you seen Kane anywhere? I've been looking for him."  
Rock snorted. " The Rock thought that was who was doing the moaning earlier."  
"Where?" Mick asked almost desperately.  
"If the Rock had to guess, he'd say it sounded like it came near the boiler room. Big red retard sounded like his brother died or something."  
The look Mick gave his former tag partner said more than words ever could to the Rock. Mick could now hear Kane's heartwrenching cries.  
"Shit," the Rock said, "How?"  
"The plane Stephanie and Undertaker were on went down a couple hours ago."  
"Damn," Rock said as he and Mick went down near the boiler room to comfort a bereaved Kane.  
They found Kane in a desolate corner of the arena, bellowing to the heavens.  
Mick came up and put his hand on the bigger man's shoulder.  
"Hey," Mick said softly.  
Kane looked at Mick with a lost look in his eyes, as if he'd lost a half of himself.  
The three men stood there for a long time, lamenting the loss of two of their own and pondering the changes this would bring.  
  
Six months later.....  
  
  
She was floating in a sea of images and feelings, things that were so close, yet beyond her reach, perhaps forever beyond her reach.  
Miss are you okay? Miss?  
She felt somebody calling to her, pulling her out of wherever she had been.  
She opened her eyes to find a dark handsome man with the most amazing grey eyes she'd ever seen.  
"Miss are you all right?" the man asked in a rich British accent.  
Okay, why is that I know that and I can't remember anything else,she thought.  
"I don't know, I - I don't remember, w - who, I am, or how I got here, or where I am."  
"The question of where you are can be answered fairly easily. You're in a hospital on the outskirts of London. You've been in a coma for at least the last six months."  
Six months..... "Wh - who are you?" the woman asked.  
The man laughed. There was something about that laugh she found fascinating.   
"My name is Adam, Doctor Adam Pierson. And what is yours my lady?"  
"Um......"She was at a loss. Suddenly a name popped into her head. "Stephanie."  
"Is that your name?" Adam asked.   
"I don't know, it's the only one I know for now though," Stephanie replied.  
"Very well, pleased to meet you Stephanie." Adam said warmly.   
  
  
*puts out a sign that says please feed muse with feedback so this story can continue* Please give me and Locutus some feedback so this and many other stories can continue.  
  
  
Chapter one  
  
  
Stephanie was walking down the London streets, aimlessly lost in thought. According to Adam Pierson, it'd been at least a year since she'd been brought into the hospital with life threatening injuries, and six months since she'd emerged from a coma. With no past and an uncertain future.  
As she looked at the store windows on her way back to Adam's loft, she pondered the dreams and flashes of memory she'd been having lately. It seemed like an incoherent mess that she couldn't figure out and was draining to try to figure out all the bits and pieces. Most bits passed quickly, and gave her no clue as to who she really was.  
She walked into the loft she shared with her Adam, who had become more than her doctor, but also her friend. Shy and quiet at times, he had a sarcastic wit that he wasn't afraid to use. A complex man with paradoxical contradictions.  
It was never more evident than when she walked into the loft. A mixture of modern and quaint antiquity was through out the place she'd called home for six months. Books neatly places on shelves and antique swords, some of which looked quite old and quite used.......  
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sliding door of the flat.  
"Hello Stephanie," Adam said, with a small little smirk that was so characteristic of his face.  
"Hey Adam," Steph answered back quietly.  
"Made any progress today?" he asked.  
Stephanie shook her head. "I don't think so, not really."  
"Have anymore dreams last night?" He asked with a seemingly innocent expression on his face though Steph knew better.  
He went to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of beer. He and his beer, Stephanie thought, how can he drink so much beer and still be upright, let alone think clearly.  
He glanced at the expression on Stephanie's face as he asked the question about her dreams. He was concerned about her. He knew she was having dreams and incoherent flashes of memory that she was having trouble sorting out. He wanted to help her desperately.  
"You know it might be helpful if you talked about it," He said.  
Stephanie sighed, sitting down at the kitchen table with Adam.  
"Well, last night I dreamed I was at an alter. I think I was in a wedding dress, with a blond man up ahead smiling at me."  
"Do you think it was your husband?" Adam asked, pointing out the wedding ring gracing her finger.  
Stephanie shook her head emphatically, "I don't know, It was a wedding and the guy may have been the one I was supposed to marry.....but......She trailed off.  
"But what?" Adam prompted.  
"It was almost as if I was waiting for something to happen to stop it. Like I knew the wedding wasn't going to take place."  
"Did the wedding happen?" Adam asked.  
"I don't think it did. The last thing I remember was there was some sort of commotion and everyone was glancing at the source, but before I could see what had caused the commotion, I woke up," recalled Stephanie.  
"Anything else?" Adam asked again.  
"It felt like there was a lot of people around, more than there should be at a wedding," She said.  
"What were you feeling and thinking?" Adam pushed, in doctor mode as Stephanie had come to think of it.  
"Just an impatience, I think. Just a wanting to get the affair over with. If I could just remember, what I was waiting for, I could.....Ugh! This is so frustrating. Six months and all I can remember is a wedding that I can't be sure if it took place or not." She smacked the palm of her hand against the surface of the mahogany table in frustration.  
"Hey, it may not seem like it, you ARE making progress. This is the first time that you've actually connected the memory with emotional response. It'll come back soon I promise," Adam said softly.  
"You're a good friend," Stephanie said, getting up to kiss Adam on the cheek. Suddenly she nearly went down dizzily. Adam caught her before she went to the floor.  
"Steph, what is it? Another memory?" Adam asked urgently.  
"Yeah, yeah, I think so," Steph responded, accepting Adam's help back into the chair.  
"Think you can tell me about it?" He asked gently, not wanting to push her into remembering something she didn't want to remember.  
Stephanie's words tumbled out at once: "I was locked in some sort of huge basement or something like that. I - I'm scared and alone and wondering why my father hasn't found me yet."  
Adam was surprised at this development, it was the first time either of her parents had been mentioned, "Is this before of after the wedding?'  
"It was before, I think. It's cold and dark and I'm scared," She stated again.  
"Do you know who's holding you captive?" he pressed on.  
"No, I'm drawing a blank.... Wait somebody else is in there. He's calling "Stephanie." He's calling my name!"  
This was the first confirmation that the name she'd been using for so many months was, in fact, her real name. Hoping for a breakthrough, he pressed further, "Is he the same guy from the wedding?"  
No, he's shorter, his hair's kinda short, spiky and dark. He's got some sort of red substance all over his body. I think he's trying to help me, I feel kinda safe with him," Steph said slowly.  
"Do you remember anything else?" Adam asked.  
"No," said Stephanie, shaken by the memory she'd just had. "Oh, God, Adam, I'm scared. What if whoever had me locked up is still out there?"  
He took Stephanie in his arms. "Well, at least we can no longer say that your previous life was boring."  
Stephanie groaned, "You and your sense of humor."  
"Look, we've got confirmation that your name really IS Stephanie and you've had two coherent flashes of memory. We'll figure out all the pieces in time, okay?" Adam asked trying to soothe Steph's fears.  
"Okay," Stephanie replied, not sure if she really wanted to find out more, based on the flash she'd just had. She walked over to the window and wondered whatever happened to her kidnapper.  
  
Mideon rode around England trying to find a reliable bike shop to get some brake fluid for the motorcycle he owned. He never called the bike his own. He knew who really owned the ride. He just wasn't coming back to claim it.  
He walked into the shop lost in his own thoughts as he made the order for the fluid. It had been at least a year since the Undertaker and Stephanie McMahon - Helmsley died tragically in the plane crash, not far from where Mideon was. Things had changed drastically and radically since that time. Everybody who remembered them was having trouble adjusting, especially Taker's younger brother Kane.  
And Steven Richards is not helping matters, Mideon snorted derisively.  
"Is that all?" said a gruff voice, that barely penetrated Mideon's thoughts.  
"Yeah it is. Thanks." Said Mideon reaching into his wallet for his traveler's check.  
Mideon couldn't help but wonder if that if, Taker were still alive, RTC wouldn't have a chance in hell of doing what they were doing to Kane. Or the rest of the Federation for that matter.  
He heard the can thump onto the counter breaking him from his thoughts once again. "What's the price?" Mideon asked.  
"The price is on the can," the gruff voice answered, "that's a cool ride."  
"Thanks, it wa - " Mideon broke off looking up from making the check. The voice sounded chillingly familiar. He turned to the direction of the voice.  
He saw the man looking past Mideon, presumably at the bike parked outside. Mideon's mouth gaped open as he dropped the check he was making out and tried in vain not to pee in his pants.  
For the man in front of him looked exactly like the Undertaker.  
  
*looks around* So? If you want to find out what happened next, Feed the muse with Feedback! Come on, I know you can do it....  



	2. Chapter Two: Contemplations

Chapter Two

To those who have followed this story, NO YOUR NOT SEEING THINGS! I finally got a chance to finish this chapter!  
  
TITLE: Faded Chapter Two  
AUTHOR: Juliet3:16   
EMAIL: Sweetvalley99@aol.com, FYouWWF@aol.com, Juliet_316_2000@yahoo.com  
RATING: PG - 13  
CONTENT: VIOLENCE, ADULT LANGUAGE  
CATEGORY: ADULT, ANGST, DRAMA  
SPOILERS: Right after Fully Loaded 2000 with one huge change: Stephanie lost the Women's title to Lita before she caught Trish and Hunter in that compromising position. After Fully Loaded it's AU.  
SUMMARY: A Plane crash changes everything.  
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing; Vince McMahon owns everything and everybody.  
DISTRIBUTION: Fanfiction.net, Peja, everyone else, please ask.  
  
_Faded  
  
Chapter Two_  
  
_Contemplations_  
  
Mideon just stood there, for what seemed like an eternity, staring at a man, who for all intents and purposes should have been dead.  
  
"Is there a problem?" the 'Taker look-alike asked with a questioning glare that to Mideon looked haunting and familiar.  
  
"No - nothing," Mideon stammered nervously.  
  
He picked up the check he was writing and hastily finished it and handed it over to the 'Taker look-alike.  
  
While the clerk was confirming Mideon's check, Mideon seized the opportunity to stare at the man more clearly. There was a definite resemblance between the man in front of Mideon and the Deadman.   
  
_'No doubt about that,' _Mideon thought, _'more than a passing resemblance.'  
  
_ "That all?" the man in front of Mideon asked again.  
  
'_Oh, God,_' the man's all too familiar voice caused Mideon to nearly cream his pants again.  
  
"No - no thanks," with that, Mideon grabbed the oilcan and left. It was only when he was halfway back to the hotel he was staying did he realize he'd forgotten to ask the guy's name!  
  
The clerk watched Mideon rush off and turned away.  
  
He wondered why Mideon looked and sounded so familiar.

  
_______________________________________________________________________________________

Mideon had raced out of the bike shop, his heart racing as fast as 'Taker's bike. His thoughts were running at ten times that.  
  
_'It couldn't be,' _Mideon thought as the hotel came into view, _could it? I mean 'Taker's did some pretty mean shit in the past, but could he really do **that?** Could he really come back from the dead? For real? IF that was 'Taker, then why didn't he recognize me? What about Stephanie? Is she still alive? And what if this IS true, would it do for Kane and Hunter and the rest of the Federation?  
  
_ All those questions swirled through his mind as he entered his hotel room. A change of clothes at the moment was first and foremost among his more immediate and pressing concerns.  
  
"Hey man, did you get the oil can you needed for 'Taker's bike? Farooq, one of Mideon's roommates and a member of the tag team the Acolytes asked.  
  
"Yeah, I did," Mideon said, hoping that he didn't show the nervousness he felt.  
  
Farooq regarded the shorter man for a moment, as if the dark man knew that something was amiss with Mideon's behavior. Farooq then shook his head, clearing it of the idea.   
  
"Look man, I'm going to look for Bradshaw," Farooq said, referring to his tag partner. "If I don't start now, I'll probably end up dragging both of our asses out of a pub fight. You going to be okay man?  
  
"Yeah, I'm good. Go find 'Shaw," Mideon replied, a bit relieved when Farooq walked out of the hotel room, presumably to go pub searching for Bradshaw. Not only did it afford him the opportunity to change his pants (he was surprised that Farooq hadn't commented on the now obvious smell of urine coming from Mideon's soiled pants), but it also allowed him to consider the problem of the Undertaker. Or at least the man Mideon thought was the Undertaker.  
  
He couldn't go to the Acolytes with it. Mideon had decided that even before he saw Farooq in their hotel room. While Farooq was one of the most levelheaded people he knew, Mideon was well aware of Bradshaw's hot-blooded temperament. Bradshaw would probably hit the 'Taker look-alike first and then ask questions if he felt like it later if Mideon told the big Texan. 'Taker's family was also out of the question for much the same reason. Kane was under too much constant surveillance for Mideon to go to him, and there was no way Mideon could put the torturous possibility to 'Taker's wife, Sara, and Paul Bearer. They'd been through too much wild goose chases courtesy of the man that currently controlled the World Wrestling Federation to put them through one more.  
  
Mideon laid on the bed thinking: Who knew 'Taker enough, friend or foe, to be both levelheaded about the matter and be honest and objective enough to give Mideon the cold truth about whether the man in the shop was Undertaker or not?  
  
Finally Mideon thought he'd hit upon the answer. It wasn't a perfect solution and Mideon certainly had reservations about calling him in on a matter as important as this. Mideon was forced to admit that the man was certainly impartial enough to either debunk or confirm Mideon's growing suspicions. The man had also matured, largely due to fatherhood. He was no longer the brash, cocky superstar that had been forced to retire due to injury. Not a perfect option, but it was the best Mideon could come up at the moment.  
  
Mideon took out his cell phone and pushed the number for the International Operator.  
  
"Hello, yes. I'd like to make a transatlantic call. If it can be put on this account, that would be appreciated," Mideon said, rattling off the account number that was being used by the WWF to pay for the promotional trip to England.  
  
_Bastard caused so much pain for the WWF, might as well pay for it, at least finically as a start,' _Mideon thought bitterly.  
  
He waited for a couple of minutes, then answering when the operator asked Mideon whom he wanted to call:  
  
"Shawn Michaels."  
  
  
So, what did you think? Feedback is appreciated.  
  



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